Jesse's Girl

Chapter 33

       "Do you have a second?"

       It was a question. Yet as soon as he said the words to me, Kale's hand was already wrapped around my elbow, and he was pulling me with him as if I'd already answered with a yes. The foul look on my face and the way I clenched my fist in annoyance begged a differ.

       No, Kale. I did not have a second.

       I decided not to contest him though (even though I wanted to).

       I swung my hand at my locker and shut it with a slam before I was out of range.  The fact that I had to do that, as well as try to match my pace with Kale to refrain from stumbling over, had me wanting to yank his light colored hair from his head. Though I assumed he was only in a hurry to avoid the cluster of students loitering the halls so that they wouldn't spot the two of us together.

       We came to a stop when Kale reached a door. Once it was open, he released my arm to place a hand on my back, most likely to nudge me inside—but I saved him the trouble when I moved away from his touch and crossed the threshold of the door.

       The door shut not even a second later, leaving me alone in a dark room with Kale, but not even another one later, the lights snapped on.

       After one quick glance around, I realized we were standing in an empty classroom. Empty, I knew was because it was so early in the morning. I assumed chemistry was taught within the walls, though—judging by the beakers, the wide black tables, and the numerous amount of lab safety posters littering the area.

       "I heard you were with Jesse the other day." I tore my eyes away from the room and turned on my heel to face Kale, who had moved away from the door and was leaning against a table beside it with crossed arms. "What happened?"

       "Nothing," I answered in a dismissive tone. To be honest, the last thing I wanted to talk about was Jesse. After my encounter with Farrah the day before, all I'd been able to think about was how she hadn't given me a straight answer to my question. It had left me wondering if she had meant to give me a vague answer to spare me from knowing that something actually did happen between the two of them the night of Jesse's party. "Why do you want to know?"

       "Well, you two skipped an entire day of school to hang out together," Kale said. "Can you blame me for wanting to know what happened?"

       "We went to a movie. Played at an arcade. Ate at a diner. Maybe trolled a few people at Abercrombie. Nothing mind blowing."

       "And he was the one who asked you out?"

       "A little forcefully, but yes."

       Kale nodded to himself as if he were processing it.

       But he snapped his gaze back to me when I said, "Honestly though, I don't think he likes me anymore."

       "What?"

       "I told him that I was at his party—"

      "What?"

       "—and he lied about what happened. After he told me that, I started to think he was bored with me, but then, yesterday..." I trailed off and rubbed my hands together. "I just don't know anymore. I mean, a part of me wants to believe he doesn't like me—but why would he ask me out? And then I start to think, maybe he does like me—but why would he lie?"

       Kale stared at me, and I rolled my eyes.

       "It's just all over the place," I said. "I just can't tell with him anymore. I...maybe you picked the wrong girl, Kale."